Modern Hebrew is de officiaw wanguage of de State of Israew, whiwe premodern Hebrew is used for prayer or study in Jewish communities around de worwd today. The Samaritan diawect is awso de witurgicaw tongue of de Samaritans, whiwe modern Hebrew or Arabic is deir vernacuwar. As a foreign wanguage, it is studied mostwy by Jews and students of Judaism and Israew, and by archaeowogists and winguists speciawizing in de Middwe East and its civiwizations, as weww as by deowogians in Christian seminaries.

The Torah (de first five books), and most of de rest of de Hebrew Bibwe, is written in Bibwicaw Hebrew, wif much of its present form specificawwy in de diawect dat schowars bewieve fwourished around de 6f century BCE, around de time of de Babywonian captivity. For dis reason, Hebrew has been referred to by Jews as Lashon Hakodesh (לשון הקדש), "de Howy Language", since ancient times.

The modern Engwish word "Hebrew" is derived from Owd FrenchEbrau, via Latin from de GreekἙβραῖος (Hebraîos) and Aramaic'ibrāy, aww uwtimatewy derived from Bibwicaw HebrewIbri (עברי), one of severaw names for de Israewite (Jewish and Samaritan) peopwe. It is traditionawwy understood to be an adjective based on de name of Abraham's ancestor, Eber, mentioned in Genesis 10:21. The name is bewieved to be based on de Semitic root ʕ-b-r (עבר) meaning "beyond", "oder side", "across";[16] interpretations of de term "Hebrew" generawwy render its meaning as roughwy "from de oder side [of de river/desert]"—i.e., an exonym for de inhabitants of de wand of Israew/Judah, perhaps from de perspective of Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, or de Transjordan (wif de river referenced perhaps de Euphrates, Jordan, or Litani; or maybe de nordern Arabian Desert between Babywonia and Canaan).[17] Compare cognate Assyrianebru, of identicaw meaning.[18]

One of de earwiest references to de wanguage's name as "Hebrew" is found in de prowogue to de Book of Ben Sira,[a] from de 2nd century BCE.[19] The Bibwe does not use de term "Hebrew" in reference to de wanguage of de Hebrew peopwe.[20]

According to Avraham Ben-Yosef, Hebrew fwourished as a spoken wanguage in de Kingdoms of Israew and Judah during about 1200 to 586 BCE.[22] Schowars debate de degree to which Hebrew was a spoken vernacuwar in ancient times fowwowing de Babywonian exiwe, when de predominant internationaw wanguage in de region was Owd Aramaic.

In Juwy 2008 Israewi archaeowogist Yossi Garfinkew discovered a ceramic shard at Khirbet Qeiyafa which he cwaimed may be de earwiest Hebrew writing yet discovered, dating around 3,000 years ago.[25] Hebrew University archaeowogist Amihai Mazar said dat de inscription was "proto-Canaanite" but cautioned dat, "The differentiation between de scripts, and between de wanguages demsewves in dat period, remains uncwear," and suggested dat cawwing de text Hebrew might be going too far.[26]

The Gezer cawendar awso dates back to de 10f century BCE at de beginning of de Monarchic Period, de traditionaw time of de reign of David and Sowomon. Cwassified as Archaic Bibwicaw Hebrew, de cawendar presents a wist of seasons and rewated agricuwturaw activities. The Gezer cawendar (named after de city in whose proximity it was found) is written in an owd Semitic script, akin to de Phoenician one dat drough de Greeks and Etruscans water became de Roman script. The Gezer cawendar is written widout any vowews, and it does not use consonants to impwy vowews even in de pwaces where water Hebrew spewwing reqwires it.

Numerous owder tabwets have been found in de region wif simiwar scripts written in oder Semitic wanguages, for exampwe Protosinaitic. It is bewieved dat de originaw shapes of de script go back to Egyptian hierogwyphs, dough de phonetic vawues are instead inspired by de acrophonic principwe. The common ancestor of Hebrew and Phoenician is cawwed Canaanite, and was de first to use a Semitic awphabet distinct from Egyptian, uh-hah-hah-hah. One ancient document is de famous Moabite Stone written in de Moabite diawect; de Siwoam Inscription, found near Jerusawem, is an earwy exampwe of Hebrew. Less ancient sampwes of Archaic Hebrew incwude de ostraca found near Lachish which describe events preceding de finaw capture of Jerusawem by Nebuchadnezzar and de Babywonian captivity of 586 BCE.

In its widest sense, Bibwicaw Hebrew means de spoken wanguage of ancient Israew fwourishing between de 10f century BCE and de turn of de 4f century CE.[27] It comprises severaw evowving and overwapping diawects. The phases of Cwassicaw Hebrew are often named after important witerary works associated wif dem.

Archaic Bibwicaw Hebrew from de 10f to de 6f century BCE, corresponding to de Monarchic Period untiw de Babywonian Exiwe and represented by certain texts in de Hebrew Bibwe (Tanakh), notabwy de Song of Moses (Exodus 15) and de Song of Deborah (Judges 5). Awso cawwed Owd Hebrew or Paweo-Hebrew. It was written in de Paweo-Hebrew awphabet. A script descended from dis, de Samaritan awphabet, is stiww used by de Samaritans.

Hebrew script used in writing a Torah scroww. Note ornamentaw "crowns" on tops of certain wetters.

Standard Bibwicaw Hebrew around de 8f to 6f centuries BCE, corresponding to de wate Monarchic period and de Babywonian Exiwe. It is represented by de buwk of de Hebrew Bibwe dat attains much of its present form around dis time. Awso cawwed Bibwicaw Hebrew, Earwy Bibwicaw Hebrew, Cwassicaw Bibwicaw Hebrew (or Cwassicaw Hebrew in de narrowest sense).

Late Bibwicaw Hebrew, from de 5f to de 3rd centuries BCE, dat corresponds to de Persian Period and is represented by certain texts in de Hebrew Bibwe, notabwy de books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Basicawwy simiwar to Cwassicaw Bibwicaw Hebrew, apart from a few foreign words adopted for mainwy governmentaw terms, and some syntacticaw innovations such as de use of de particwe she- (awternative of 'ʾasher' "dat, which, who"). It adopted de Imperiaw Aramaic script (from which de modern Hebrew script descends).

Israewian Hebrew is a proposed nordern diawect of bibwicaw Hebrew, attested in aww eras of de wanguage, in some cases competing wif wate bibwicaw Hebrew as an expwanation for non-standard winguistic features of bibwicaw texts.

Dead Sea Scroww Hebrew from de 3rd century BCE to de 1st century CE, corresponding to de Hewwenistic and Roman Periods before de destruction of de Tempwe in Jerusawem and represented by de Qumran Scrowws dat form most (but not aww) of de Dead Sea Scrowws. Commonwy abbreviated as DSS Hebrew, awso cawwed Qumran Hebrew. The Imperiaw Aramaic script of de earwier scrowws in de 3rd century BCE evowved into de Hebrew sqware script of de water scrowws in de 1st century CE, awso known as ketav Ashuri (Assyrian script), stiww in use today.

Mishnaic Hebrew from de 1st to de 3rd or 4f century CE, corresponding to de Roman Period after de destruction of de Tempwe in Jerusawem and represented by de buwk of de Mishnah and Tosefta widin de Tawmud and by de Dead Sea Scrowws, notabwy de Bar Kokhba wetters and de Copper Scroww. Awso cawwed Tannaitic Hebrew or Earwy Rabbinic Hebrew.

Sometimes de above phases of spoken Cwassicaw Hebrew are simpwified into "Bibwicaw Hebrew" (incwuding severaw diawects from de 10f century BCE to 2nd century BCE and extant in certain Dead Sea Scrowws) and "Mishnaic Hebrew" (incwuding severaw diawects from de 3rd century BCE to de 3rd century CE and extant in certain oder Dead Sea Scrowws).[28] However, today, most Hebrew winguists cwassify Dead Sea Scroww Hebrew as a set of diawects evowving out of Late Bibwicaw Hebrew and into Mishnaic Hebrew, dus incwuding ewements from bof but remaining distinct from eider.[29] By de start of de Byzantine Period in de 4f century CE, Cwassicaw Hebrew ceases as a reguwarwy spoken wanguage, roughwy a century after de pubwication of de Mishnah, apparentwy decwining since de aftermaf of de catastrophic Bar Kokhba War around 135 CE.

After Cyrus de Great conqwered Babywon, he awwowed de Jewish peopwe to return from captivity. As a resuwt,[improper syndesis?] a wocaw version of Aramaic came to be spoken in Israew awongside Hebrew. By de beginning of de Common Era, Aramaic was de primary cowwoqwiaw wanguage of Samarian, Babywonian and Gawiweean Jews, and western and intewwectuaw Jews spoke Greek,[citation needed] but a form of so-cawwed Rabbinic Hebrew continued to be used as a vernacuwar in Judea untiw it was dispwaced by Aramaic, probabwy in de 3rd century CE. Certain Sadducee, Pharisee, Scribe, Hermit, Zeawot and Priest cwasses maintained an insistence on Hebrew, and aww Jews maintained deir identity wif Hebrew songs and simpwe qwotations from Hebrew texts.[13][31][32]

Whiwe dere is no doubt dat at a certain point, Hebrew was dispwaced as de everyday spoken wanguage of most Jews, and dat its chief successor in de Middwe East was de cwosewy rewated Aramaic wanguage, den Greek,[31][note 2] schowarwy opinions on de exact dating of dat shift have changed very much.[12] In de first hawf of de 20f century, most schowars fowwowed Geiger and Dawman in dinking dat Aramaic became a spoken wanguage in de wand of Israew as earwy as de beginning of Israew's Hewwenistic Period in de 4f century BCE, and dat as a corowwary Hebrew ceased to function as a spoken wanguage around de same time. Segaw, Kwausner, and Ben Yehuda are notabwe exceptions to dis view. During de watter hawf of de 20f century, accumuwating archaeowogicaw evidence and especiawwy winguistic anawysis of de Dead Sea Scrowws has disproven dat view. The Dead Sea Scrowws, uncovered in 1946–1948 near Qumran reveawed ancient Jewish texts overwhewmingwy in Hebrew, not Aramaic.

The Qumran scrowws indicate dat Hebrew texts were readiwy understandabwe to de average Israewite, and dat de wanguage had evowved since Bibwicaw times as spoken wanguages do.[note 3] Recent schowarship recognizes dat reports of Jews speaking in Aramaic indicates a muwtiwinguaw society, not necessariwy de primary wanguage spoken, uh-hah-hah-hah. Awongside Aramaic, Hebrew co-existed widin Israew as a spoken wanguage.[34] Most schowars now date de demise of Hebrew as a spoken wanguage to de end of de Roman Period, or about 200 CE.[35] It continued on as a witerary wanguage down drough de Byzantine Period from de 4f century CE.

The exact rowes of Aramaic and Hebrew remain hotwy debated. A triwinguaw scenario has been proposed for de wand of Israew. Hebrew functioned as de wocaw moder tongue wif powerfuw ties to Israew's history, origins, and gowden age and as de wanguage of Israew's rewigion; Aramaic functioned as de internationaw wanguage wif de rest of de Middwe East; and eventuawwy Greek functioned as anoder internationaw wanguage wif de eastern areas of de Roman Empire.[citation needed]Wiwwiam Schniedewind argues dat after waning in de Persian Period, de rewigious importance of Hebrew grew in de Hewwenistic and Roman periods, and cites epigraphicaw evidence dat Hebrew survived as a vernacuwar wanguage — dough bof its grammar and its writing system had been substantiawwy infwuenced by Aramaic.[36] According to anoder summary, Greek was de wanguage of government, Hebrew de wanguage of prayer, study and rewigious texts, and Aramaic was de wanguage of wegaw contracts and trade.[37] There was awso a geographic pattern: according to Spowsky, by de beginning of de Common Era, "Judeo-Aramaic was mainwy used in Gawiwee in de norf, Greek was concentrated in de former cowonies and around governmentaw centers, and Hebrew monowinguawism continued mainwy in de soudern viwwages of Judea."[31] In oder words, "in terms of diawect geography, at de time of de tannaim Pawestine couwd be divided into de Aramaic-speaking regions of Gawiwee and Samaria and a smawwer area, Judaea, in which Rabbinic Hebrew was used among de descendants of returning exiwes."[13][32] In addition, it has been surmised dat Koine Greek was de primary vehicwe of communication in coastaw cities and among de upper cwass of Jerusawem, whiwe Aramaic was prevawent in de wower cwass of Jerusawem, but not in de surrounding countryside.[37] After de suppression of de Bar Kokhba revowt in de 2nd century CE, Judaeans were forced to disperse. Many rewocated to Gawiwee, so most remaining native speakers of Hebrew at dat wast stage wouwd have been found in de norf.[38]

The Christian New Testament contains some Semitic pwace names and qwotes.[39] The wanguage of such Semitic gwosses (and in generaw de wanguage spoken by Jews in scenes from de New Testament) is often referred to as "Hebrew" in de text,[40] awdough dis term is often re-interpreted as referring to Aramaic instead[note 4][note 5] and is rendered accordingwy in recent transwations.[42] Nonedewess, dese gwosses can be interpreted as Hebrew as weww.[43] It has been argued dat Hebrew, rader dan Aramaic or Koine Greek, way behind de composition of de Gospew of Matdew.[44] (See de Hebrew Gospew hypodesis or Language of Jesus for more detaiws on Hebrew and Aramaic in de gospews.)

The term "Mishnaic Hebrew" generawwy refers to de Hebrew diawects found in de Tawmud, excepting qwotations from de Hebrew Bibwe. The diawects organize into Mishnaic Hebrew (awso cawwed Tannaitic Hebrew, Earwy Rabbinic Hebrew, or Mishnaic Hebrew I), which was a spoken wanguage, and Amoraic Hebrew (awso cawwed Late Rabbinic Hebrew or Mishnaic Hebrew II), which was a witerary wanguage. The earwier section of de Tawmud is de Mishnah dat was pubwished around 200 CE, awdough many of de stories take pwace much earwier, and was written in de earwier Mishnaic diawect. The diawect is awso found in certain Dead Sea Scrowws. Mishnaic Hebrew is considered to be one of de diawects of Cwassicaw Hebrew dat functioned as a wiving wanguage in de wand of Israew. A transitionaw form of de wanguage occurs in de oder works of Tannaitic witerature dating from de century beginning wif de compwetion of de Mishnah. These incwude de hawachicMidrashim (Sifra, Sifre, Mechiwta etc.) and de expanded cowwection of Mishnah-rewated materiaw known as de Tosefta. The Tawmud contains excerpts from dese works, as weww as furder Tannaitic materiaw not attested ewsewhere; de generic term for dese passages is Baraitot. The diawect of aww dese works is very simiwar to Mishnaic Hebrew.

About a century after de pubwication of de Mishnah, Mishnaic Hebrew feww into disuse as a spoken wanguage. The water section of de Tawmud, de Gemara, generawwy comments on de Mishnah and Baraitot in two forms of Aramaic. Neverdewess, Hebrew survived as a witurgicaw and witerary wanguage in de form of water Amoraic Hebrew, which sometimes occurs in de text of de Gemara.

Because as earwy as de Torah's transcription de Scribe has been de highest position in Judaism, Hebrew was awways regarded as de wanguage of Israew's rewigion, history and nationaw pride, and after it faded as a spoken wanguage, it continued to be used as a wingua franca among schowars and Jews travewing in foreign countries.[45] After de 2nd century CE when de Roman Empire exiwed most of de Jewish popuwation of Jerusawem fowwowing de Bar Kokhba revowt, dey adapted to de societies in which dey found demsewves, yet wetters, contracts, commerce, science, phiwosophy, medicine, poetry, and waws continued to be written mostwy in Hebrew, which adapted by borrowing and inventing terms.

After de Tawmud, various regionaw witerary diawects of Medievaw Hebrew evowved. The most important is Tiberian Hebrew or Masoretic Hebrew, a wocaw diawect of Tiberias in Gawiwee dat became de standard for vocawizing de Hebrew Bibwe and dus stiww infwuences aww oder regionaw diawects of Hebrew. This Tiberian Hebrew from de 7f to 10f century CE is sometimes cawwed "Bibwicaw Hebrew" because it is used to pronounce de Hebrew Bibwe; however, properwy it shouwd be distinguished from de historicaw Bibwicaw Hebrew of de 6f century BCE, whose originaw pronunciation must be reconstructed. Tiberian Hebrew incorporates de remarkabwe schowarship of de Masoretes (from masoret meaning "tradition"), who added vowew points and grammar points to de Hebrew wetters to preserve much earwier features of Hebrew, for use in chanting de Hebrew Bibwe. The Masoretes inherited a bibwicaw text whose wetters were considered too sacred to be awtered, so deir markings were in de form of pointing in and around de wetters. The Syriac awphabet, precursor to de Arabic awphabet, awso devewoped vowew pointing systems around dis time. The Aweppo Codex, a Hebrew Bibwe wif de Masoretic pointing, was written in de 10f century, wikewy in Tiberias, and survives to dis day. It is perhaps de most important Hebrew manuscript in existence.

The need to express scientific and phiwosophicaw concepts from Cwassicaw Greek and Medievaw Arabic motivated Medievaw Hebrew to borrow terminowogy and grammar from dese oder wanguages, or to coin eqwivawent terms from existing Hebrew roots, giving rise to a distinct stywe of phiwosophicaw Hebrew. This is used in de transwations made by de Ibn Tibbon famiwy. (Originaw Jewish phiwosophicaw works were usuawwy written in Arabic.) Anoder important infwuence was Maimonides, who devewoped a simpwe stywe based on Mishnaic Hebrew for use in his waw code, de Mishneh Torah. Subseqwent rabbinic witerature is written in a bwend between dis stywe and de Aramaized Rabbinic Hebrew of de Tawmud.

Hebrew persevered drough de ages as de main wanguage for written purposes by aww Jewish communities around de worwd for a warge range of uses—not onwy witurgy, but awso poetry, phiwosophy, science and medicine, commerce, daiwy correspondence and contracts. There have been many deviations from dis generawization such as Bar Kokhba's wetters to his wieutenants, which were mostwy in Aramaic,[48] and Maimonides' writings, which were mostwy in Arabic;[49] but overaww, Hebrew did not cease to be used for such purposes. For exampwe, de first Middwe East printing press, in Safed (modern Israew), produced a smaww number of books in Hebrew in 1577, which were den sowd to de nearby Jewish worwd.[50] This meant not onwy dat weww-educated Jews in aww parts of de worwd couwd correspond in a mutuawwy intewwigibwe wanguage, and dat books and wegaw documents pubwished or written in any part of de worwd couwd be read by Jews in aww oder parts, but dat an educated Jew couwd travew and converse wif Jews in distant pwaces, just as priests and oder educated Christians couwd converse in Latin, uh-hah-hah-hah. For exampwe, Rabbi Avraham Danzig wrote de Chayei Adam in Hebrew, as opposed to Yiddish, as a guide to Hawacha for de "average 17-year-owd" (Ibid. Introduction 1). Simiwarwy, de Chofetz Chaim, Rabbi Yisraew Meir Kagan's purpose in writing de Mishna Berurah was to "produce a work dat couwd be studied daiwy so dat Jews might know de proper procedures to fowwow minute by minute". The work was neverdewess written in Tawmudic Hebrew and Aramaic, since, "de ordinary Jew [of Eastern Europe] of a century ago, was fwuent enough in dis idiom to be abwe to fowwow de Mishna Berurah widout any troubwe."[51]

Hebrew has been revived severaw times as a witerary wanguage, most significantwy by de Haskawah (Enwightenment) movement of earwy and mid-19f-century Germany. In de earwy 19f century, a form of spoken Hebrew had emerged in de markets of Jerusawem between Jews of different winguistic backgrounds to communicate for commerciaw purposes. This Hebrew diawect was to a certain extent a pidgin.[52] Near de end of dat century de Jewish activist Ewiezer Ben-Yehuda, owing to de ideowogy of de nationaw revivaw (שיבת ציון, Shivat Tziyon, water Zionism), began reviving Hebrew as a modern spoken wanguage. Eventuawwy, as a resuwt of de wocaw movement he created, but more significantwy as a resuwt of de new groups of immigrants known under de name of de Second Awiyah, it repwaced a score of wanguages spoken by Jews at dat time. Those wanguages were Jewish diawects of wocaw wanguages, incwuding Judaeo-Spanish (awso cawwed "Judezmo" and "Ladino"), Yiddish, Judeo-Arabic, and Bukhori (Tajiki), or wocaw wanguages spoken in de Jewish diaspora such as Russian, Persian, and Arabic.

The major resuwt of de witerary work of de Hebrew intewwectuaws awong de 19f century was a wexicaw modernization of Hebrew. New words and expressions were adapted as neowogisms from de warge corpus of Hebrew writings since de Hebrew Bibwe, or borrowed from Arabic (mainwy by Ewiezer Ben-Yehuda) and owder Aramaic and Latin, uh-hah-hah-hah. Many new words were eider borrowed from or coined after European wanguages, especiawwy Engwish, Russian, German, and French. Modern Hebrew became an officiaw wanguage in British-ruwed Pawestine in 1921 (awong wif Engwish and Arabic), and den in 1948 became an officiaw wanguage of de newwy decwared State of Israew. Hebrew is de most widewy spoken wanguage in Israew today.

In de Modern Period, from de 19f century onward, de witerary Hebrew tradition revived as de spoken wanguage of modern Israew, cawwed variouswy Israewi Hebrew, Modern Israewi Hebrew, Modern Hebrew, New Hebrew, Israewi Standard Hebrew, Standard Hebrew, and so on, uh-hah-hah-hah. Israewi Hebrew exhibits some features of Sephardic Hebrew from its wocaw Jerusawemite tradition but adapts it wif numerous neowogisms, borrowed terms (often technicaw) from European wanguages and adopted terms (often cowwoqwiaw) from Arabic.

The witerary and narrative use of Hebrew was revived beginning wif de Haskawah movement. The first secuwar periodicaw in Hebrew, HaMe'assef (The Gaderer), was pubwished by maskiwim in Königsberg (today's Kawiningrad) from 1783 onwards.[53] In de mid-19f century, pubwications of severaw Eastern European Hebrew-wanguage newspapers (e.g. Hamagid, founded in Ełk in 1856) muwtipwied. Prominent poets were Hayim Nahman Biawik and Shauw Tchernichovsky; dere were awso novews written in de wanguage.

The revivaw of de Hebrew wanguage as a moder tongue was initiated in de wate 19f century by de efforts of Ewiezer Ben-Yehuda. He joined de Jewish nationaw movement and in 1881 immigrated to Pawestine, den a part of de Ottoman Empire. Motivated by de surrounding ideaws of renovation and rejection of de diaspora "shtetw" wifestywe, Ben-Yehuda set out to devewop toows for making de witerary and witurgicaw wanguage into everyday spoken wanguage. However, his brand of Hebrew fowwowed norms dat had been repwaced in Eastern Europe by different grammar and stywe, in de writings of peopwe wike Ahad Ha'am and oders. His organizationaw efforts and invowvement wif de estabwishment of schoows and de writing of textbooks pushed de vernacuwarization activity into a graduawwy accepted movement. It was not, however, untiw de 1904–1914 Second Awiyah dat Hebrew had caught reaw momentum in Ottoman Pawestine wif de more highwy organized enterprises set forf by de new group of immigrants. When de British Mandate of Pawestine recognized Hebrew as one of de country's dree officiaw wanguages (Engwish, Arabic, and Hebrew, in 1922), its new formaw status contributed to its diffusion, uh-hah-hah-hah. A constructed modern wanguage wif a truwy Semitic vocabuwary and written appearance, awdough often European in phonowogy, was to take its pwace among de current wanguages of de nations.

Whiwe many saw his work as fancifuw or even bwasphemous[54] (because Hebrew was de howy wanguage of de Torah and derefore some dought dat it shouwd not be used to discuss everyday matters), many soon understood de need for a common wanguage amongst Jews of de British Mandate who at de turn of de 20f century were arriving in warge numbers from diverse countries and speaking different wanguages. A Committee of de Hebrew Language was estabwished. After de estabwishment of Israew, it became de Academy of de Hebrew Language. The resuwts of Ben-Yehuda's wexicographicaw work were pubwished in a dictionary (The Compwete Dictionary of Ancient and Modern Hebrew). The seeds of Ben-Yehuda's work feww on fertiwe ground, and by de beginning of de 20f century, Hebrew was weww on its way to becoming de main wanguage of de Jewish popuwation of bof Ottoman and British Pawestine. At de time, members of de Owd Yishuv and a very few Hasidic sects, most notabwy dose under de auspices of Satmar, refused to speak Hebrew and spoke onwy Yiddish.

In de Soviet Union, de use of Hebrew, awong wif oder Jewish cuwturaw and rewigious activities, was suppressed. Soviet audorities considered de use of Hebrew "reactionary" since it was associated wif Zionism, and de teaching of Hebrew at primary and secondary schoows was officiawwy banned by de Peopwe's Commissariat for Education as earwy as 1919, as part of an overaww agenda aiming to secuwarize education (de wanguage itsewf did not cease to be studied at universities for historicaw and winguistic purposes[55]). The officiaw ordinance stated dat Yiddish, being de spoken wanguage of de Russian Jews, shouwd be treated as deir onwy nationaw wanguage, whiwe Hebrew was to be treated as a foreign wanguage.[56] Hebrew books and periodicaws ceased to be pubwished and were seized from de wibraries, awdough witurgicaw texts were stiww pubwished untiw de 1930s. Despite numerous protests,[57] a powicy of suppression of de teaching of Hebrew operated from de 1930s on, uh-hah-hah-hah. Later in de 1980s in de USSR, Hebrew studies reappeared due to peopwe struggwing for permission to go to Israew (refuseniks). Severaw of de teachers were imprisoned, e.g. Yosef Begun, Ephraim Khowmyansky, Yevgeny Korostyshevsky and oders responsibwe for a Hebrew wearning network connecting many cities of de USSR.

The vocabuwary of Israewi Hebrew is much warger dan dat of earwier periods. According to Ghiw'ad Zuckermann:

The number of attested Bibwicaw Hebrew words is 8198, of which some 2000 are hapax wegomena (de number of Bibwicaw Hebrew roots, on which many of dese words are based, is 2099). The number of attested Rabbinic Hebrew words is wess dan 20,000, of which (i) 7879 are Rabbinic par excewwence, i.e. dey did not appear in de Owd Testament (de number of new Rabbinic Hebrew roots is 805); (ii) around 6000 are a subset of Bibwicaw Hebrew; and (iii) severaw dousand are Aramaic words which can have a Hebrew form. Medievaw Hebrew added 6421 words to (Modern) Hebrew. The approximate number of new wexicaw items in Israewi is 17,000 (cf. 14,762 in Even-Shoshan 1970 [...]). Wif de incwusion of foreign and technicaw terms [...], de totaw number of Israewi words, incwuding words of bibwicaw, rabbinic and medievaw descent, is more dan 60,000.[60]:64–65

In Israew, Modern Hebrew is currentwy taught in institutions cawwed Uwpanim (singuwar: Uwpan). There are government-owned, as weww as private, Uwpanim offering onwine courses and face-to-face programs.

Modern Hebrew is de primary officiaw wanguage of de State of Israew. As of 2013[update], dere are about 9 miwwion Hebrew speakers worwdwide,[61] of whom 7 miwwion speak it fwuentwy.[62][63][64]

Currentwy, 90% of Israewi Jews are proficient in Hebrew, and 70% are highwy proficient.[65] Some 60% of Israewi Arabs are awso proficient in Hebrew,[65] and 30% report having a higher proficiency in Hebrew dan in Arabic.[8] In totaw, about 53% of de Israewi popuwation speaks Hebrew as a native wanguage,[66] whiwe most of de rest speak it fwuentwy. However, in 2013 Hebrew was de native wanguage of onwy 49% of Israewis over de age of 20, wif Russian, Arabic, French, Engwish, Yiddish and Ladino being de native tongues of most of de rest. Some 26% of immigrants from de former Soviet Union and 12% of Arabs reported speaking Hebrew poorwy or not at aww.[65][67]

Due to de current cwimate of gwobawization and Americanization, steps have been taken to keep Hebrew de primary wanguage of use, and to prevent warge-scawe incorporation of Engwish words into Hebrew vocabuwary. The Academy of de Hebrew Language of de Hebrew University of Jerusawem currentwy invents about 2,000 new Hebrew words each year for modern words by finding an originaw Hebrew word dat captures de meaning, as an awternative to incorporating more Engwish words into Hebrew vocabuwary. The Haifa municipawity has banned officiaws from using Engwish words in officiaw documents, and is fighting to stop businesses from using onwy Engwish signs to market deir services.[68] In 2012, a Knesset biww for de preservation of de Hebrew wanguage was proposed, which incwudes de stipuwation dat aww signage in Israew must first and foremost be in Hebrew, as wif aww speeches by Israewi officiaws abroad. The biww's audor, MK Akram Hasson, stated dat de biww was proposed as a response to Hebrew "wosing its prestige", and chiwdren incorporating more Engwish words into deir vocabuwary.[69]

Hebrew is awso an officiaw nationaw minority wanguage in Powand, since 6 January 2005.[70]

By de time of de Dead Sea Scrowws, /ɬ/ had shifted to /s/ in de Jewish traditions, dough for de Samaritans it merged wif /ʃ/ instead. (Ewisha Qimron 1986. Hebrew of de Dead Sea Scrowws, 29). The Tiberian reading tradition of de Middwe Ages had de vowew system /a ɛ e i ɔ o u ă ɔ̆ ɛ̆/, dough oder Medievaw reading traditions had fewer vowews.

A number of reading traditions have been preserved in witurgicaw use. In Orientaw (Sephardi and Mizrahi) Jewish reading traditions, de emphatic consonants are reawized as pharyngeawized, whiwe de Ashkenazi (nordern and eastern European) traditions have wost emphatics and pharyngeaws (awdough according to Ashkenazi waw, pharyngeaw articuwation is preferred over uvuwar or gwottaw articuwation when representing de community in rewigious service such as prayer and Torah reading), and show de shift of /w/ to /v/. The Samaritan tradition has a compwex vowew system which does not correspond cwosewy to de Tiberian systems.

Modern Hebrew pronunciation devewoped from a mixture of de different Jewish reading traditions, generawwy tending towards simpwification, uh-hah-hah-hah. In wine wif Sephardi Hebrew pronunciation, emphatic consonants have shifted to deir ordinary counterparts, /w/ to /v/, and [ɣ ð θ] are not present. Most Israewis today awso merge /ʕ ħ/ wif /ʔ χ/, do not have contrastive gemination, and pronounce /r/ as a uvuwar fricative [ʁ] or a voiced vewar fricative [ɣ] rader dan an awveowar triww, because of Ashkenazi Hebrew infwuences. The consonants /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ have become phonemic due to woan words, and /w/ has simiwarwy been re-introduced.

Proto-Semitic *ś was stiww pronounced as [ɬ] in Bibwicaw Hebrew, but no wetter was avaiwabwe in de Phoenician awphabet, so de wetter ש‬ did doubwe duty, representing bof /ʃ/ and /ɬ/. Later on, however, /ɬ/ merged wif /s/, but de owd spewwing was wargewy retained, and de two pronunciations of ש‬ were distinguished graphicawwy in Tiberian Hebrew as שׁ‬/ʃ/ vs. שׂ‬/s/ < /ɬ/.

Bibwicaw Hebrew as of de 3rd century BCE apparentwy stiww distinguished de phonemes ġ/ʁ/, ḫ/χ/, ḏ/ð/ and ṯ/θ/, based on transcriptions in de Septuagint. As in de case of /ɬ/, no wetters were avaiwabwe to represent dese sounds, and existing wetters did doubwe duty: ח‬/χ/ /ħ/, ע‬/ʁ/ /ʕ/, שׁ‬/θ/ /ʃ/ and ז‬/ð/ /z/. In aww of dese cases, however, de sounds represented by de same wetter eventuawwy merged, weaving no evidence (oder dan earwy transcriptions) of de former distinctions.

Hebrew and Aramaic underwent begadkefat spirantization at a certain point, whereby de stop sounds /b ɡ d k p t/ were softened to de corresponding fricatives [v ɣ ð x f θ] (written ḇ ḡ ḏ ḵ p̄ ṯ) when occurring after a vowew and not geminated. This change probabwy happened after de originaw Owd Aramaic phonemes /θ, ð/ disappeared in de 7f century BCE,[71] and most wikewy occurred after de woss of Hebrew /χ, ʁ/ c. 200 BCE.[note 7] It is known to have occurred in Hebrew by de 2nd century.[72] After a certain point dis awternation became contrastive in word-mediaw and finaw position (dough bearing wow functionaw woad), but in word-initiaw position dey remained awwophonic.[73] In Modern Hebrew, de distinction has a higher functionaw woad due to de woss of gemination, awdough onwy de dree fricatives /v χ f/ are stiww preserved (de fricative /x/ is pronounced /χ/ in modern Hebrew). (The oders are pronounced wike de corresponding stops, apparentwy under de infwuence of water non-native speakers whose native European tongues wacked de sounds /ɣ ð θ/ as phonemes.)

Hebrew grammar is partwy anawytic, expressing such forms as dative, abwative, and accusative using prepositionaw particwes rader dan grammaticaw cases. However, infwection pways a decisive rowe in de formation of de verbs and nouns. For exampwe, nouns have a construct state, cawwed "smikhut", to denote de rewationship of "bewonging to": dis is de converse of de genitive case of more infwected wanguages. Words in smikhut are often combined wif hyphens. In modern speech, de use of de construct is sometimes interchangeabwe wif de preposition "shew", meaning "of". There are many cases, however, where owder decwined forms are retained (especiawwy in idiomatic expressions and de wike), and "person"-encwitics are widewy used to "decwine" prepositions.

Like aww Semitic wanguages, de Hebrew wanguage exhibits a pattern of stems consisting typicawwy of "triwiteraw", or 3-consonant consonantaw roots , from which nouns, adjectives, and verbs are formed in various ways: e.g. by inserting vowews, doubwing consonants, wengdening vowews, and/or adding prefixes, suffixes, or infixes. 4-consonant roots awso exist and became more freqwent in de modern wanguage due to a process of coining verbs from nouns dat are demsewves constructed from 3-consonant verbs. Some triwateraw roots wose one of deir consonants in most forms and are cawwed "Nehim" (Resting).

Hebrew uses a number of one-wetter prefixes dat are added to words for various purposes. These are cawwed inseparabwe prepositions or "Letters of Use" (Hebrew: אותיות השימוש‎, transwit.Otiyot HaShimush). Such items incwude: de definite articweha- (/ha/) (="de"); prepositionsbe- (/bə/) (="in"), we- (/wə/) (="to"; a shortened version of de preposition ew), mi- (/mi/) (="from"; a shortened version of de preposition min); conjunctionsve- (/və/) (="and"), she- (/ʃe/) (="dat"; a shortened version of de Bibwicaw conjunction asher), ke- (/kə/) (="as", "wike"; a shortened version of de conjunction kmo).

The vowew accompanying each of dese wetters may differ from dose wisted above, depending on de first wetter or vowew fowwowing it. The ruwes governing dese changes, hardwy observed in cowwoqwiaw speech as most speakers tend to empwoy de reguwar form, may be heard in more formaw circumstances. For exampwe, if a preposition is put before a word which begins wif a moving Shva, den de preposition takes de vowew /i/ (and de initiaw consonant may be weakened): cowwoqwiaw be-kfar (="in a viwwage") corresponds to de more formaw bi-khfar.

The definite articwe may be inserted between a preposition or a conjunction and de word it refers to, creating composite words wike mé-ha-kfar (="from de viwwage"). The watter awso demonstrates de change in de vowew of mi-. Wif be, we and ke, de definite articwe is assimiwated into de prefix, which den becomes ba, wa or ka. Thus *be-ha-matos becomes ba-matos (="in de pwane"). Note dat dis does not happen to mé (de form of "min" or "mi-" used before de wetter "he"), derefore mé-ha-matos is a vawid form, which means "from de airpwane".

Like most oder wanguages, de vocabuwary of de Hebrew wanguage is divided into verbs, nouns, adjectives, and so on, and its sentence structure can be anawyzed by terms wike object, subject, and so on, uh-hah-hah-hah.

Many Hebrew sentences have severaw correct orders of words. One can change de order of de words in de sentence and keep de same meaning. For exampwe, de sentence "Dad went to work", in Hebrew, incwudes a word for Dad (אבאaba), for went (הלךhawaḵ), and for to work (to de working pwace = לעבודהwa-ʿavoda). However, unwike in Engwish, dose dree words can be put in awmost any combination (אבא הלך לעבודה/ לעבודה אבא הלך/ לעבודה הלך אבא/ הלך אבא לעבודה and so on).

Hebrew sentences do not have to incwude verbs; de copuwa in de present tense is omitted. For exampwe, de sentence "I am here" (אני פהani po) has onwy two words; one for I (אני) and one for here (פה). In de sentence "I am dat person" (אני הוא האדם הזהani hu ha'adam ha'ze), de word for "am" corresponds to de word for "he" (הוא). However, dis may awso be omitted. Thus, de sentence (אני האדם הזה) is identicaw in meaning.

Negative and interrogative Sentences have de same order as de reguwar decwarative one. A qwestion dat have a yes/no answer begins wif "האם" (haim, an interrogative form of 'if'), but it's wargewy omitted in informaw speech.

Though earwy Bibwicaw Hebrew had a verb-subject-object ordering, dis graduawwy transitioned to a subject-verb-object ordering.[74]

In Hebrew dere is a specific preposition (אתet) for direct objects dat wouwd not have a preposition marker in Engwish. The Engwish phrase "he ate de cake" wouwd in Hebrew be הוא אכל את העוגהhu akhaw et ha'ugah (witerawwy, "He ate את de cake"). The word את, however, can be omitted, making הוא אכל העוגהhu akhaw ha'ugah ("He ate de cake"). Former Israewi Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion was convinced dat את shouwd never be used as it ewongates de sentence widout adding meaning.

Modern Hebrew is written from right to weft using de Hebrew awphabet, which is an "impure" abjad, or consonant-onwy script, of 22 wetters. The ancient paweo-Hebrew awphabet is simiwar to dose used for Canaanite and Phoenician.[citation needed] Modern scripts are based on de "sqware" wetter form, known as Ashurit (Assyrian), which was devewoped from de Aramaic script. A cursive Hebrew script is used in handwriting: de wetters tend to be more circuwar in form when written in cursive, and sometimes vary markedwy from deir printed eqwivawents. The medievaw version of de cursive script forms de basis of anoder stywe, known as Rashi script. When necessary, vowews are indicated by diacritic marks above or bewow de wetter representing de sywwabic onset, or by use of matres wectionis, which are consonantaw wetters used as vowews. Furder diacritics are used to indicate variations in de pronunciation of de consonants (e.g. bet/vet, shin/sin); and, in some contexts, to indicate de punctuation, accentuation, and musicaw rendition of Bibwicaw texts (see Cantiwwation).

Hebrew has awways been used as de wanguage of prayer and study, and de fowwowing pronunciation systems are found.

Ashkenazi Hebrew, originating in Centraw and Eastern Europe, is stiww widewy used in Ashkenazi Jewish rewigious services and studies in Israew and abroad, particuwarwy in de Haredi and oder Ordodox communities. It was infwuenced by de Yiddish wanguage.

Mizrahi (Orientaw) Hebrew is actuawwy a cowwection of diawects spoken witurgicawwy by Jews in various parts of de Arab and Iswamic worwd. It was possibwy infwuenced by de Aramaic and Arabic wanguages, and in some cases by Sephardi Hebrew, awdough some winguists maintain dat it is de direct heir of Bibwicaw Hebrew and dus represents de true diawect of Hebrew. The same cwaim is sometimes made for Yemenite Hebrew or Temanit, which differs from oder Mizrahi diawects by having a radicawwy different vowew system, and distinguishing between different diacriticawwy marked consonants dat are pronounced identicawwy in oder diawects (for exampwe gimew and "ghimew".)

These pronunciations are stiww used in synagogue rituaw and rewigious study, in Israew and ewsewhere, mostwy by peopwe who are not native speakers of Hebrew, dough some traditionawist Israewis use witurgicaw pronunciations in prayer.

Many synagogues in de diaspora, even dough Ashkenazi by rite and by ednic composition, have adopted de "Sephardic" pronunciation in deference to Israewi Hebrew. However, in many British and American schoows and synagogues, dis pronunciation retains severaw ewements of its Ashkenazi substrate, especiawwy de distinction between tsere and segow.

^In de Tanakh (Jewish Bibwe), de wanguage was referred to as Yehudit "de wanguage of Judah" or səpaṯ Kəna'an "de wanguage of Canaan".[2] Later Hewwenistic writers such as Josephus and de Gospew of John used de term Hebraisti to refer to bof Hebrew and Aramaic.[2]

^ abSáenz-Badiwwos, Ángew and John Ewwowde: "There is generaw agreement dat two main periods of RH (Rabbinicaw Hebrew) can be distinguished. The first, which wasted untiw de cwose of de Tannaitic era (around 200 CE), is characterized by RH as a spoken wanguage graduawwy devewoping into a witerary medium in which de Mishnah, Tosefta, baraitot and Tannaitic midrashim wouwd be composed. The second stage begins wif de Amoraim and sees RH being repwaced by Aramaic as de spoken vernacuwar, surviving onwy as a witerary wanguage. Then it continued to be used in water rabbinic writings untiw de tenf century in, for exampwe, de Hebrew portions of de two Tawmuds and in midrashic and haggadic witerature."[13]

^The Cambridge History of Judaism: "Thus in certain sources Aramaic words are termed 'Hebrew,' ... For exampwe: η επιλεγομενη εβραιστι βηθεσδα 'which is cawwed in de Hebrew tongue Bedesda' (John 5.2). This is not a Hebrew name but rader an Aramaic one: בית חסדא, 'de house of Hisda'."[34]

^Fitzmyer, Joseph A.: "The adverb Ἑβραïστί (and its rewated expressions) seems to mean 'in Hebrew', and it has often been argued dat it means dis and noding more. As is weww known, it is used at times wif words and expressions dat are cwearwy Aramaic. Thus in John 19:13, Ἑβραιστὶ δὲ Γαββαθᾶ is given as an expwanation of de Lidostrotos, and Γαββαθᾶ is a Grecized form of de Aramaic word gabbětā, 'raised pwace.'"[41]

^These pronunciations may have originated in wearners' mistakes formed on de anawogy of oder suffixed forms (katávta, awénu), rader dan being exampwes of residuaw Ashkenazi infwuence.

^According to de generawwy accepted view, it is unwikewy dat begadkefat spirantization occurred before de merger of /χ, ʁ/ and /ħ, ʕ/, or ewse [x, χ] and [ɣ, ʁ] wouwd have to be contrastive, which is cross-winguisticawwy rare. However, Bwau argues dat it is possibwe dat wenited /k/ and /χ/ couwd coexist even if pronounced identicawwy, since one wouwd be recognized as an awternating awwophone (as apparentwy is de case in Nestorian Syriac). See Bwau (2010:56).

^ ab"Hebrew" in The Oxford Dictionary of de Christian Church, edit. F.L. Cross, first edition (Oxford, 1958), 3rd edition (Oxford 1997). The Oxford Dictionary of de Christian Church which once said, in 1958 in its first edition, dat Hebrew "ceased to be a spoken wanguage around de fourf century BCE", now says, in its 1997 (dird) edition, dat Hebrew "continued to be used as a spoken and written wanguage in de New Testament period".

^ abcSáenz-Badiwwos, Ángew and John Ewwowde. 1996. A history of de Hebrew wanguage. P.170-171

^"If you couwdn't speak Greek by say de time of earwy Christianity you couwdn't get a job. You wouwdn't get a good job. a professionaw job. You had to know Greek in addition to your own wanguage. And so you were getting to a point where Jews...de Jewish community in say Egypt and warge cities wike Awexandria didn't know Hebrew anymore dey onwy knew Greek. And so you need a Greek version in de synagogue." – Josheph Bwankinsopp, Professor of Bibwicaw Studies University of Notre Dame in A&E's Who Wrote de Bibwe

^Randaww Buf and Chad Pierce "EBRAISTI in Ancient Texts, Does ἑβραιστί ever Mean 'Aramaic'?" in Buf and Notwey eds., Language Environment of First Century Judaea, Briww, 2014:66–109. p. 109 "no, Ἑβραιστί does not ever appear to mean Aramaic in attested texts during de Second Tempwe and Graeco-Roman periods."; p. 107 "John did not mention what eider βεθεσδα or γαββαθα meant. They may bof have been woanwords from Greek and Latin respectivewy." p103 "βεθεσδα ... (בית-אסטא(ן ... house of portico ... 3Q15 אסטאן הדרומית soudern portico," and Latin gabata (p. 106) "means pwatter, dish... perhaps a mosaic design in de pavement ... " The Latin woanword is attested as "boww" in water Christian Pawestinian Aramaic and גבתא is (p106) "unattested in oder Aramaic diawects" [contra de awwegations of many].

^J. M. Griatz, "Hebrew in de Days of de Second Tempwe" QBI, 79 (1960) pp. 32–47